Educators in Teen Second Life

From Second Life Wiki

Template:Needs Translation/KB/de Template:Needs Translation/KB/es Template:Needs Translation/KB/el Template:Needs Translation/KB/fr Template:Needs Translation/KB/he Template:Needs Translation/KB/it Template:Needs Translation/KB/ja Template:Needs Translation/KB/ko Template:Needs Translation/KB/nl Template:Needs Translation/KB/hu Template:Needs Translation/KB/no Template:Needs Translation/KB/da Template:Needs Translation/KB/sv Template:Needs Translation/KB/tr Template:Needs Translation/KB/pl Template:Needs Translation/KB/pt Template:Needs Translation/KB/ru Template:Needs Translation/KB/uk Template:Needs Translation/KB/zh-Hans Template:Needs Translation/KB/zh-Hant

This article is part of the Second Life® Knowledge Base. Although Linden Lab can't guarantee its accuracy, as part of the Knowledge Base it must meet high quality standards, and designated Reviewers must approve any changes. You can edit this article and make it better! Learn more.

The Teen Second Life® virtual world (TSL™) is strictly for teens between the ages 13-17. The only adults allowed on the mainland or teen-owned Private Regions in TSL are Linden Lab^® employees. If you are an educator and want to work with teens in TSL, you have the opportunity to buy a Private Region (island) and participate, but you cannot leave that Estate and visit the TSL mainland or teen-owned Private Regions. Teens from the mainland will be able to visit your Private Region if/when you choose, but Educators are required to inform teens that there are adults present. Also, if you are planning to use a Private Region in the Teen Second Life virtual world, you will need to provide a background check for security and safety reasons. Students age 18+ are considered adults. Any students in your program who are 18+ will need to submit a background check. Because of this requirement, most programs with mixed age groups of 13-17 and 18+ choose to run simultaneous projects in TSL for students under 18 as well as in the Second Life^® virtual world (SL™ ) for students 18 and older.

Important considerations before you begin

In an effort to provide a place where teens can choose to interact without adult contact, both social and technical limitations are put in place. Some of these limitations, though serving a valuable purpose, may make it difficult or impossible for you to accomplish all of your goals. Please read this article carefully and consider talking to others in the community who are using TSL for their own projects, so that you may better understand how TSL might, or might not, work for you.

Mailing lists

There are thousands of educators who use the SLED mailing list for communicating about their projects. If you have questions, ask them here:

• Educators (SLED)
• Educators in TSL (SLEDT)

Update on TSL registration

Currently US teen Residents can create their own accounts in the Teen Second Life virtual world and verify with SMS or PayPal. Since SMS is US-centric, non-US Residents will need to use PayPal to verify accounts. Teen-created accounts will be restricted to:

• Teen-only mainland
• Teen-owned Private Regions
• Educator public access adult-owned Estates in TSL.

If your students cannot use either of these verification methods, you will need to budget for account creation services for your student accounts. Post an email to the SLEDT list inquiring about which TSL-approved developers are offering RegAPI service. Accounts created using RegAPI will be restricted to your Private (Closed) Estate.

Estate models

The following sections explain the two most common models of Estates used by educators in TSL, along with their advantages and the challenges they present.

Closed Estate

These Private Regions are closed to everyone but their own students. Adult and student accounts are all assigned to the same Estate. This allows them to form groups, use Local Chat, and exchange objects with each other. The adult and student accounts cannot leave the Estate Regions. The Residents of the Teen Second Life virtual world mainland have no access to these Estates.

On the closed Estate model, educators need to work with a TSL-approved developer to set up the accounts with the Registration API.

Advantage

Within your Closed Estate, adult and teen accounts will all be able to communicate very easily. Residents within your Closed Estate are able to:

• Form groups.
• Use Local Chat.
• Exchange objects and L$ (Linden dollars).

This is an advantage for groups who want to control the student experience

Challenge

All accounts will be confined to that particular Estate.

This is a disadvantage for groups who would like teens to be able to roam freely in TSL.

Open Estate

Teens from the mainland of Teen Second Life can come to these Private Regions and participate in activities.

Advantage

• Teens from the mainland can visit your Open Estate Regions.
• Within your Estate, approved accounts are able to:
  • Form groups.
  • Use Local Chat.
  • Exchange objects and L$ (Linden dollars).

Challenge Adults cannot use Local Chat, form groups, exchange objects, or exchange L$ with TSL mainland teens.

• Teens who have created their own TSL accounts are technically on a different Estate. Avatars on different Estates cannot form groups, use Local Chat, exchange objects or exchange L$. They will not be able to see each other in Search.

Estates are delivered in the Closed Estate model. Please DO NOT enable the Public Access option without following the process listed below. To set your island to Open, you will have to follow some requirements in close cooperation with Linden Lab.

If you choose the Open Estate model with its unique features and limitations:

1. Contact Concierge Support and advise us of your Estate model choice.
2. Concierge will add the Estate owner and other approved adults on your Estate to an Approved Adult group inworld
3. Concierge will provide a notecard dispenser for you to set up. You can edit the script to include information you want visitors to have, but it should state the name of your Region and that the approved adults will be wearing their TSL Approved Adult name tags.
4. Set your Estate for single point of entry and set up a telehub.
   • You must disable Allow Direct Teleport on the Estate tab of the Region/Estate window.
   1. Place your notecard dispenser at the Region entry point to announce the presence of Approved Adults to visiting teens. Always wear your Approved Adult group name tag when on the Region.
5. Edit the parcel description for every parcel on the Estate. Right-click on the land, or from your viewer menu, go to the General tab of the About Land and add the following text in the Description box: "Approved (non-Linden) adults may be present."
6. Once the above steps are completed, enable Public Access:

1. Go to the Estate tab of the Region/Estate window.
2. Select Allow Public Access.
3. Click Apply

Obtaining TSL clearance and setting up your avatar

Currently, all requests for clearance by individuals are processed by Ascertain. The basic fee is US$40, though an additional fee is applied if you have lived at multiple addresses in the past 10 years. The fee in New York State is US$100. Allow 3-4 working days for US Residents and 7-10 working days for non-US Residents. Disqualifying offenses for Teen Second Life participants have been identified by Linden Lab as convictions relating to:

• Sexual abuse
• Physical violence
• Drug use or sales
• Theft
• Fraud (felony or misdemeanor offenses)

Note: Police checks from outside the U.S. may be valid. For example, Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks are valid from the UK.

Ascertain only processes the background checks; you must contact us after you've passed in order to continue with setup.

Note: You must log out of existing accounts on our website to create a new account.

Setting up a large group

For school systems bringing an entire team of staff onto your Estate in TSL, we will accept confirmation from the head of HR or the school principal verifying that all staff have had background checks.

• The letter may be faxed or attached as a file to a support ticket
• Faxes should be sent to the attention of Jay Linden to 415-243-9045
• It's helpful if the fax can be associated with a sales order number, support ticket number, Private Region name, or Second Life name of the Estate owner

How will I know when my transfer to TSL is completed?

Once a transfer is complete, your next login will bring you to the TSL Estate you to which you requested a transfer. If you are still logging into the Second Life virtual world, the transfer is not yet completed. The Teen Second Life Community Standards apply to all teen community areas of Second Life, the Teen Second Life Forums, and the Teen Second Life Website. You should also take a look at the Terms of Service for more information about other actions that could result in account suspension or banning.